Versace family and Blackstone expected to sell in deal likely to be announced on Tuesday

US luxury group Michael Kors is set to announce a deal to buy Milanese fashion house Versace in a deal worth about $2bn, according to two people briefed on the talks. The agreement, expected to be announced on Tuesday morning, will see the Versace family selling alongside US private equity firm Blackstone, which took a 20 per cent stake in Versace in 2014. At that time, the US private firm injected €150m of fresh capital into Versace and acquired €60m in stock in Versace’s family-owned holding company. A spokesman for Versace declined to comment. Michael Kors and Blackstone were not immediately available for comment. The deal would come after Versace, one of the last independent fashion houses, put the brakes on an initial public offering because market conditions were not deemed suitable, according to a person briefed on the decision. It would be the latest independent European runway brand to decide to sell in recent months. Italy’s Missoni family announced an agreement to sell a minority stake of its eponymous brand to a private equity venture backed by the Italian state before the summer, and Antwerp-based Dries Van Noten sold a majority stake to Spanish luxury group Puig in June. Meanwhile, Michael Kors has been seeking to buy up brands in order to create a US rival to European luxury conglomerates LVMH, Kering and Richemont."

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The Versace family, which owns 80 percent of the company, will continue to have a role under any agreement, the people familiar with the situation said. Donatella serves as creative director, while Santo is chairman.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported earlier that Versace could be sold this week for about $2 billion, with several groups interested including Kors and Tiffany & Co. LVMH, PVH Corp. and Tapestry also looked at Versace in recent months, according to a report on Sunday by Women’s Wear Daily."

"Michael Kors set to Destroy Versace" would be a more accurate headline!
More duty-free bags with logos out there...great!

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Yes, that's my issue with this! I'm afraid if they buy Versace they are just going to turn it into a Michael Kors 2.0 because that's all they know. You can't teach someone who sells duty-free bags to the point of over saturating the world market how to maintain an exclusive brand, it just doesn't happen.

Yess.
Google, there are more sources, one blog-alike that's why i didnt take it as quelle.
But seems MK will buy it.
( I got this news coincidentally and googled to know more and i was so surprised! )

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Just googled it myself and I am surprised as well ! I wonder if Tisci was planning to go to Versace, but this development maybe deterred him because I still find the Burberry appointment strange. I don't know.